Poison Ivy

Lardalish

Ok, its been years since I've had poison ivy so I can't remember if there are any good ways of getting rid of it. I've had it for about a week (probly like 5-6 days) and I still have huge "blisters" wherever I got touched. Not sure if thats normal or not. Been using this Benadryl creme that stops the itch as long as nothing touches the actual lumps. Is there anything else I can do? Maybe something that will help it along its way? This shit is so damned annoying. Some of these look like I could easily pop them with like a sterelized needle, but somehow I get the feeling that would be a bad idea.

BahamutZERO

Whenever I or my family get poison ivy on us, it just leaves an itchy as hell red rash for a day or two. Are you allergic to it or something? This sounds like a pretty serious reaction to it.

EDIT: Hang on, my mistake, I live in California so we've got poison oak, not poison ivy. I googled poison ivy and the first site I got seemed to know what it was talking about: http://www.poison-ivy.org/html/faq.htm
So your reactions sound right. I think you probably want to see a doctor.

Lardalish

Well, its nothing more than annoying. My dad gets the same kind of clearish blisters whenever he gets it. It always eventually goes away, Im just looking to speed up the process because the itching is driving me crazy. But it is deffinately more than "just a rash" so I guess Im more allergic to it than you are.

BahamutZERO

I edited, got poison oak and ivy mixed up.

Lardalish

Ok, I just went through that slideshow (not for the weak of stomach mind you) and Ive got nothing like that, I mean, they were similar but way more extensive. Compared to those this is increadably minor. I think I can pass on a doctor visit.

Bob Sapp

There's nothing you can really do other than relieve the itching. It can't spread or anything.

Salvation122

You're a dude, right? WASH YOUR HANDS INCREDIBLY THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU PISS. When you scratch, you pop some of those little blisters, and the oil inside can spread the rash to other parts of your body. Believe me, you think it's unpleasant now, wait until you've got it on your junk.

spacerobot

I get poison ivy very easily, and am quite allergic to it and have had my fair share of poison ivy. I just had a small rash on the back of my ankle (where the top of my shoe rubs against my ankle) a few weeks ago.

Your best bet is to just go down to your local drug store and pick up some lotion for it to dry it out. and DON'T scratch it, that will probably just break the blisters. If you truly must itch it, itch around the rash (even 1 or 2 inches away from the rash can relieve the itching tremendously.

I don't think poison ivy will "spread" to other areas of your body unless you are being dumb, and get that puss/oil that comes out from the sores all over your hands and then touch everywhere on your body... even then I think it's unlikely that it will spread (this is not scientific data, just based off of my own experiences) Just make sure you keep the rash clean from puss and it'll go away in a few weeks.

Thanatos

Poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac are all related, and are all covered with the exact same oil. Different people have different reactions to it.

The OP's reaction isn't that bad. You can try Calamine lotion, which I've found helps a bit, but really, you just have to bear it.

Lardalish

Yeah, this is kinda what I was expecting. Oh well, Ill just keep slathering on this anti-itch stuff and hope it all heals up fast.


I guess this can be locked unless smeone else wants to use it.

Convael

Salvation122 wrote: »

You're a dude, right? WASH YOUR HANDS INCREDIBLY THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU PISS. When you scratch, you pop some of those little blisters, and the oil inside can spread the rash to other parts of your body. Believe me, you think it's unpleasant now, wait until you've got it on your junk.

Wrong. Once the poison ivy oils from the plant have come into contact with the skin it only takes a few hours for it to become non-contagious. The oil found in the blisters cannot spread the poison ivy.

I had a really bad case about 2 months ago where it was all up and down my arms and around my stomach... got it from a class trip where I was the only one who ended up with poison ivy, go figure. Anyway the one thing that a lot of people don't use that helped a lot was running cold water or putting an ice pack on the blisters. It causes them to contract which means they aren't as itchy and inflamed and makes it feel a lot better.

Atlus Parker

My favorite home remedy for poison ivy was to make a pot of oatmeal and slather that over the afflicted areas. I had posion ivy really bad once but it cleared up after maybe 2 days of treating it with oatmeal.

whuppins

It's true, after the initial contact, you can generally pop those blisters without worrying about spreading the rash.

I've been in Florida all my life, and I used to spend summers clearing lots out in some of the more natural areas (read: poison ivy fucking everywhere). I'd guess that I've had poison ivy at least 50 times. Most of the time, I'd get it all up and down my arms, and I never seemed to build up an immunity to it like some of the guys I worked with. I'd always get the full-blown bubbly blisters.

People say to use cold water, etc, to shrink the boils, and that makes sense and I have no doubt that it works. I prefer going the other route, taking really hot showers, hotter than I'd usually be able to stand. Hot water feels so good on itchy areas, and this isn't the black plague -- you're not going to make it any worse. Poison ivy boils are so close to the surface of the skin that, unlike things like ant and mosquito bites, or chicken pox -- you can scratch if you want and you won't bleed. It's a pain to have, but it really isn't any kind of actual health threat... unless you get it in a mucous membrane. One time I was trimming vines off a tree and I guess some poison ivy floated down and brushed against my eyes... that night my eyes swelled shut and I had to be driven to the doctor to get cortisone shots. Did you ever see that Beauty and the Beast daytime soap opera type thing with Linda Hamilton? I looked like the Beast for 2 or 3 days.

Another thing that people might not want to hear: My actual remedy for poison ivy was to take the flat edge of a butter knife, press it firmly against the area, and just rake it over in one slow, hard motion (oh god oil everywhere). Washed up for 5 minutes with antibacterial soap and super-hot water, and wrap in something absorbent (gauze would have been ideal, usually I was ghetto and went with paper towels and tape ) It's not for everybody, but it worked for me.